ShareRussian supermodel Irina Shayk is being canceled because of the letter Z, unsuccessfully pinned to a photo of a salad in one social network. A support group from the Gaga Chat (remember how in 2019 the slogan “We returned the Crimea, we will return Bradley” was printed on T-shirts?) cannot leave – that very social network is not only blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation, but also recognized as extremist. Colleagues and star friends of Irina keep a painful silence, haters disperse the #cancelIrinaShayk hashtag on Twitter, and the scandalous post itself has long been deleted, but continues to circulate on the Internet in the form of screenshots. The level of hate is on the rise. But it cannot be said that in the case of Irina Shayk “nothing foreshadowed.”
A beautiful, clever woman, a mother and just a Russian woman abroad, Irina Shayk had dinner with a salad. And she reported this to her subscribers on the social network, which following February 24 was recognized as extremist in Russia. The girl provided the picture with a frivolous caption: “Russianzz on wednaday”. The effect turned out to be tantamount to a direct hit of a pot of yeast in a village toilet on a hot followingnoon. Two contexts converged, so to speak.
In the first, Irina Shayk simply ate a variety of Olivier salad, popular in Europe, called “Russian”. It differs from a normal olivier in the presence of tuna instead of boiled sausage, which is probably not quite in Russian, but oh well. The situation was aggravated by a double Z at the end of the name of the salad. Until February 24, it was just a youth slang stray to demonstrate the coolness of the speaker. Something like our “handsome” or “cat”. Own command of English set up a powerful bandwagon for Irina Shayk. Because since February 24 there is another context. In which the letter Z has become a symbol of support for the Russian special operation on the territory of Ukraine.
In this context, Louis Vuitton had to apologize for the fact that in its new jewelry collection it unsuccessfully crossed the signature letters L and V – and the result was a shaped Z. New Balance companies, in all seriousness, offered to raise the letter N on branded sneakers from their knees – in their classic in a pose it also resembles Z. The symbols Z and V are officially banned in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia and Lithuania. In Kazakhstan, for the letter Z by car, they are sent to the police station. In Kyrgyzstan, it is forbidden not only to draw Z on vehicles, but also to demonstrate it publicly. In Estonia, displaying the letters Z and V is a criminal offence. In the Czech Republic, Z is officially recognized as the “equivalent of the swastika”. In Germany, for the letter Z, they can even be imprisoned for up to three years if the court considers that the ill-fated letter was shown in support of the Russian special operation.
Usually Irina Shayk’s posts, even the hottest ones, got 2-3 thousand comments. But under the last publication, she was thrown more than twenty thousand. From which hatred spurts downright. Particularly malicious wishes addressed to the model are formulated in Ukrainian. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the commentators calculated: Irina Shayk ate her “Russian” salad at the very time when Russian troops attacked Vinnitsa. And Irina was also reminded of a post two years ago: in the photo, the model was holding a book by journalist Leonid Mlechin “Putin” in her hand. With Putin on the cover.
Single messages in defense of the blog owner drowned in a stream of insults and demands to the world’s largest brands to break contracts with Irina Shayk, and send her to Russia, even as a stuffed animal, even as a carcass. Even the singer Beyoncé got it on a tangent, in which Shayk starred in the campaign of a clothing brand. They agreed that Beyoncé “does not know Putin” and in general is a queen. But in 2019, Russian-speaking fans of Irina Shayk turned Lady Gaga’s account into a besieged fortress just because someone started a rumor: the singer stole Shayk’s civil husband, Bradley Cooper. But now the social network, in which such human dramas are possible, has turned out to be inaccessible to Russians. In any case, without services to bypass the blocking – which are also blocked one following another.
Irina Shayk does not comment on what is happening, her employers are also silent. But there have already been warning signs. This year, for the first time in a long time, Irina Shayk was not invited to work at Paris Fashion Week. And before that, Russian fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin was not allowed to show his collection at this prestigious event.
Meanwhile, there are enough examples when one careless word ruined a career abroad. In 2018, blogger Miroslava Duma and designer Ulyana Sergeenko had serious international problems – also, by the way, during Paris Fashion Week. The Duma published a photo of flowers with a note from Sergeenko on the then-unrecognized extremist social network. The note said: “To my niggas in Paris” (“To my niggas in Paris”). The “N-word” in the United States is considered worse than any swearing. Later, the girls tried to explain that they meant only the title of Kanye West’s song “Niggas in Paris”. But the context—the BLM movement was in full swing—played once morest them. At the suggestion of Diet Prada, an influential public in the world of style and fashion, Sergeenko’s show at Paris Fashion Week was ignored by journalists and critics. And Miroslava Duma was removed from the governing board of the international portal The Tot, of which she was a co-founder.
Now Diet Prada has published a screenshot of Irina Shayk’s salad and demanded that the brands Burberry, Ivy Park and Jean Paul Gaultier terminate their contracts with her and generally cancel them. Irina Shayk is accused of Nazism, lack of empathy, support for the special operation and Putin personally. Although on March 1, Shake published Pacific on a black background on the same blog and stated that she was once morest hostilities and would make donations to Unicef and the Red Cross. After this, in Russia, probably, no one will remember how during the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Irina Shayk, dressed as the Snow Maiden, accompanied a column of Russian athletes. And her citizenship, judging by open sources, is still Russian.
And the salad, by the way, was not so simple. It was this version of Olivier that was served in the dining hall of the exhibition complex in Madrid during the NATO summit. The one where Russia was called the “main threat”. On the menu, the dish was listed under its usual name – “Russian salad”. But following a quiet but unpleasant scandal, it was renamed “Traditional”. At the same time, both the composition and the price of a serving remained the same. They say they sold out the “Traditional Salad” quickly.
It’s a pity that the phrase “Russian model” just won’t work just as well.
Venera Galeeva, Fontanka.ru
*Meta social networks are banned in Russia.
